Super Typhoon Mawar closes in on Guam as residents shelter, military sends away ships

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — Residents of Guam are stockpiling supplies, battening down windows and abandoning wood and tin homes for emergency shelters as Super Typhoon Mawar bears down as the strongest storm to approach the U.S. Pacific territory in decades. The U.S. military has sent away ships, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration and anyone not living in a concrete house is being urged to seek safety elsewhere ahead of Mawar, which could arrive as a monster Category 5 storm. Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero says the emergency declaration is “especially crucial given our distance from the continental U.S.” The storm is currently a Category 4 super typhoon with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour or greater.